Nor-Cal '73 Swinger

[Saetun]

This project began a fairly long time ago but until recently it's been a story of very little knowhow and a lot of procrastination. My name's Jeff, I live near Oakland CA. I picked up this 1973 Dart Swinger about 5 years ago from a former next door neighbor who swore to me it only needed a tune up & new fluids & I'd be on the road. I've wanted a Dart for quite some time so I dove in without even testing the water.

My $700.00 bought me a relatively complete Dart with a 318, automatic on the column, with A/C. Here it is on the day I took it home.

 

[Saetun]

Okay. The car sat for years in my garage, then after a move it sat exposed outside as my new homes garage was small & filled with obligatory crap. I finally got off of by butt last October (2010) & got started. I'd always wanted to work on cars myself but had done next to nothing. So, I enrolled myself in the local community college auto tech program on saturdays to help myself out & give me access to a shop. First things first, get the car started. I started by replacing the radiator (rusted out), water pump (same), set valve lash, set timing, full tune up, new module, distributor, coil, regulator, hoses, and tried to get it to fire up and after a bit, it did. Sitting since '97. takes a very weak breath in 2010.

 

[Saetun]

After spending good money after good money on gas to try to burn out the bad gas for several days, a little messing with the 2bbl carb (sometimes it's better to be lucky than good) the Dart was running, not to the point where I'd get excited yet, but it sounded better than I anticipated. I knew right away I wanted to upgrade to a 4bbl set up so I began dissasembly. I lost the stock carb & manifold in favor of a Holley 600 with an Edelbrock Performer intake.

 

[Saetun]

With the intake & carb fully installed I immediately noticed a huge difference. The car started quickly on the first try & ran strong at Idle. I then noticed oil leaking from the valve covers all over the intake so decided to pull the covers & change the gaskets. Pinned it all back together & it was starting to shape up.

 

[Saetun]

Here's where the project decided to punch me & my budjet right in the face. Being a novice with a large learning curve on my first project, I decided to get some help on the brakes. I could see they were metal to metal in the front & back. I wanted to make sure I could stop this car when it counted. Turns out there wasn't much that was still useable in the brake system. Rear drums were salvageable, but whoever drove this car last was on a mission to destroy the brakes & they succeeded. All new brakes all the way around & under the hood. New MC & power booster. Good news is, I'm confident that when I hit the brakes, the car will stop. Bad news is my lack of confidence in my ability cost me a large portion of my body paint fund. But who wants nice body & paint as they smash into the car in front of them, right?

 

[Saetun]

After several weekends of on again off again & the brakes setback, the Dart was finally driveable. Running really well, actually. Compression is good all the way around, no misses or backfires. But i do think i need to adjust the choke & fast idle speed. Here are a few pics of where I was at that point in time (January/February)

 

[Saetun]

Got the Dart registered & since it was out of the system since '97, it only ran me $75 and a cop to verify the VIN & I was legal! It was time to start hunting for rust so I started by pulling the vinyl top & checking the roof seams. Had some rust but it wasn't that bad at all, I caught a break. I sanded the roof & took a wire wheel to the roof seams & cleaned up really nice. A quick hit with a rust converter & time to prime it down temporarily as I get prepared for body & paint work.

 

[Saetun]

I figured since the car could take the air in, it should also be able to push the air out. I debated long & hard about exhaust. Which mufflers Dynomax or Flowmaster. Run headers or stick with stock manifolds. H pipe or spend a little extra for an x pipe. I decided that since this a project & not my daily driver, I would throw caution to the wind & go with the Flowmaster 40 series on 2 1/4" with an x pipe. I kept the stock manifolds for now but can always change that later. Heres a quick clip taken from my cell phone while idling.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fJOTCeTWiQ"]YouTube - '73 Dart Swinger w/ Flowmaster 40's at Idle[/ame]

 

[Saetun]

Back when I started all this (meaning the end of 2010) I ran across a near Immaculate set of Ralleys just outside of Sacramento (thx to Craigslist). At $200.00 even if the car wasn't running yet, I couldn't let these slip by me. Here's a mock up of one the Ralleys.

 

[Saetun]

So that pretty much brings me to yesterday. When after looking very closely at the old whitewalls I was rolling on, I realized they were cracked badly all over the place. I had been lucky again that one or all of them hadn't failed me already. After the exhaust, my budget is on "E" so I opted for a modest investment to get me through to richer times. Although not my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice, they're warrantied & dont look bad. I went with 215/60/14 in front & 235/60/14 in the back. Heres a few pics from this morning.

 

[Mr2.4]

Amazing what a good looking set of wheels will do for a car. And a big thumbs up for going white letters out. That look needs to make a comeback. The only thing I would do different is remove those huge bumperettes. Car looks great for sure.:supz:

 

[68GTconvert]

What an improvement! Looks great and sounds good for a pretty stock 318.

 

[Saetun]

I know rust is my worst enemy & a leaky heater core left surface rust underneath the carpets. I pulled them back & rolled under the floor pan & no holes luckily. Looks like my next step is pulling the interior & carpet & padding & killing the rust & a healthy dose of POR 15. I'm thinking I might as well lay down some Hushmat & new carpet while everything is out but that's gonna take more budget. So that may take a couple weeks. I know this is very novice work compared to some of the talent that frequents this board, but I would really appreciate your thoughts & insight on what I've done & what I should prioritize next. Especially in the area of suspension as I know this nearly 40 year old car once rode a million times better. I'll end with a shot of my boy, he calls our project, "Daddy/Jacob's Car"

 

[Saetun]

Amazing what a good looking set of wheels will do for a car. And a big thumbs up for going white letters out. That look needs to make a comeback. The only thing I would do different is remove those huge bumperettes. Car looks great for sure.:supz:

Oh Yeah... Remove bumper guards with extreme prejudice!

~Sae

 

[68GTconvert]

I have a 72 scamp trunk lid w key that has no dents has the key too. I think it will fit. let me know if you want it, I will give it you you cheap.

 

[mopardrt]

I have a 72 scamp trunk lid w key that has no dents has the key too. I think it will fit. let me know if you want it, I will give it you you cheap.

Yes scamp lid will fit make the swap lol :toothy5:

The car is lookig good what a diffrence a set of ralls make huh?

 

[mopardrt]

Oh Yeah... Remove bumper guards with extreme prejudice!

~Sae

hahaha ya thats rule number one! :glasses4:

 

[demonmike70]

keep up the good work...car looks much better.

 

[Saetun]

I have a 72 scamp trunk lid w key that has no dents has the key too. I think it will fit. let me know if you want it, I will give it you you cheap.

68GT I may take you up on this... Let me talk to my body guy & get his input.

 

[68GTconvert]

No problem. I wrote you back.

 

[1969dodgedartgt]

gj, I've thought of the ccollege route myself. I might do it in the future or just stick with learning from FABO, reading, and playing. Would you recommend the college you went to?

I'd look at all your rubber bushings on the front suspension. you might need a front rebuild. I'm plotting to do the same to my car with a PST complete front suspension kit as soon as my chips fall in line.

 

[Saetun]

Yes, the college bit was one of the best things I've done (Actually just Chabot in Hayward if you're familiar). The 1st class is rather remedial but mandatory if i want to move onto the electric, suspension, performance classes. Remedial or not, $75 for tuition & access to a full shop & tool crib, working lifts, hot tank, tire mounting/balancing, alignment... as long as i can get my car in & out in 4 hours every Saturday I can do whatever project I feel brave enough to try. Week before last I turned all the rotors on my '06 Magnum & got rid of a horrible vibration I had. Saved myself a mint. Amazing what you can learn to do once you bust open a few knuckles.

 

[Saetun]

I'd look at all your rubber bushings on the front suspension. you might need a front rebuild. I'm plotting to do the same to my car with a PST complete front suspension kit as soon as my chips fall in line.

Oh yeah... I read myself to sleep last night with the PST catalog. was just gonna do ball joints at first but its only a few bucks more for the front end kit.

 

[1969dodgedartgt]

yes I'm familar with Chabot, I went to the sister college Los Positas for some time they've had a nice looking auto class facility for awhile but I've never taken any of them. maybe it will be in my future. It does sound like a good deal to get that kind of access.

 

[Saetun]

Got a couple small things out of the way. Last friday I sprayed & cleaned the engine bay with Oil Eater then wiped it down. unbolted everything I could from the bay & masked it off & attacked it with rattle can Semi Gloss. Made quite a difference.